The Masses of Pakistan and Afghanistan Have a Common Affliction and a Common Enemy

In the wake of blind suicide bombings and carnage of our innocent people, the recent horrifying massacre of school children in Peshawar fills the heart of every feeling and conscientious human being with immense sorrow. The ruthless killing of some 150 innocent children and the wounding of over 130 others by the Taliban barbarians have revealed for the thousandth time the depth of the depravity of these anachronistic monsters.

Notwithstanding the fact that the targeted school had been established by the Pakistani Army, to the best of our understanding children of the poorest layers of society were studying there. The victims of this incident were youngsters with childhood dreams, unacquainted with prejudice or discrimination, who had no role in the ongoing events of their society. They by no means deserved such a horrendous fate.

It is excruciating to know that a number of uninformed and superficial Afghans, out of spite for Pakistan, are beating the drums of joy in the social media in celebration of this tragic event. Such inhumane reaction is, in fact, aligning oneself with the bloodthirsty Taliban, the enemy of humanity in general. Supposing that all those young victims were children of Pakistani Army officers, they had committed no crime, and certainly no crime worthy of death.

The destitute and oppressed masses of Pakistan, like our agonised people, today shed hot tears of grief in mourning for their darling children. We feel the weight of their grief with our whole being and sympathize with them. On the other hand, we consider the autocratic and perfidious Pakistani government, in particular the Pakistani army and intelligence service, as the main source and instigator of such savage deeds committed by its illicit procreations, both in our country and in Pakistan. The Pakistani government, army and intelligence service have been the unwavering sponsors and patrons of the bloodthirsty Taliban throughout all these years, and their blood-drenched hands have been involved in each and every horrifying incident in Afghanistan and the region. We unequivocally differentiate between the people and the government of Pakistan, and would consider it absurd and asinine to attribute the dastardliness of Pakistani generals and rulers to the honorable masses of Pakistan, who themselves have for years borne the brunt of the traitorous policies of their government.

Ms. Afshan Ahmed, 24, APS TeacherAccording to Irfanullah, a student who survived the terrorist attack, says that his school teacher, Ms. Afshan Ahmed, shouted towards the terrorists: "You kill my children, after crossing over my dead body. I can't see the dead body of children!" Ms. Ahmed shouting towards the student to run while burning in flames.

Fundamentalist terrorism knows no border and is nothing but a sanguinary tool in the hands of ferocious dictatorships and their autocratic rulers. Fundamentalist terrorism is a deadly virus that has no other objective but to halt any kind of development and progress. Fundamentalists of all hues –Taliban, ISIS, Gulbudini, Haqqani network, Iranian mullahs or Afghan Northern Alliance “liberal” Islamists- spring from the same stock. They are the different faces of an ignorance-promoting system that serves the interests and policies of warmongers affiliated with western neo-colonialism. The Haqqania and Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) madrassas and thousands of other similar religious seminaries in Pakistan function as terrorist dens and suicide bomber production factories, and run on financial contributions from the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and other countries. It has never been a secret to anyone that the war- and terrorism-related events and developments of the past decades in Afghanistan and the region have taken place under the direct supervision of the Pakistani army and intelligence organizations. The rulers of Pakistan have been the props of neo-colonialism in the region, and have sponsored and supported the most mediaeval-minded fundamentalist groupings. Fighting this lethal virus requires unity and cooperation among the people, progressive forces and all conscientious entities in the region.

Instead of vituperating against the innocent Pakistani masses, we must raise our voices against the groveling and spineless policies of Afghan palace-loungers, followed for years by Karzai and now by the Abdullah-Ghani clique in a more scandalous form. It is such obeisance and accommodation of ignorant thugs that have ultimately resulted in the terrorists becoming ever more ferocious and merciless, and unleashing a wave of carnage and brutality. The secret meeting between Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Army officials in Rawalpindi, and the unexpected trip of the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif and General Director of the ISI Rizwan Akhtar to Kabul are sirens that alert us to the possibility that once again nefarious dealings have taken place away from the public’s eye, and like in the past, high Afghan government posts will be handed over to Pakistani minions. The widespread presence of Pakistani double agents in high official posts is so scandalous that recently no less than the Acting Afghan Minister of the Interior and the Acting Director of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) as well as a number of other officials spoke out about it, and revealed the fact as being a major factor of the current insecurity in the country.

Pakistan Govt. and ISI has kept Taliban and other terrorist organizations as home-grown snakes, whose deadly poison is now harming this country as well.

The people of Pakistan should also realize that Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, General Hamid Gul, Tahir Ashrafi, Imran Khan, the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the Pakistan Council of Ulema and other Pakistani individuals and entities who supposedly speak out against suicide bombings in Pakistan but support the Taliban massacres in Afghanistan and label them “jihad”, are enemies of the Pakistani masses. Whoever condones terrorism in another’s homeland, first and foremost betrays his or her own nation, because the savage beast he rears knows no border, race, ethnicity or tribe. It rips into humanity anywhere and everywhere.

The Solidarity Party of Afghanistan (SPA) fights for the emancipation of toilers without compromise or let up. We can never be a mere spectator or close our eyes and ears in the face of shocking crimes committed against any oppressed victim anywhere in the world. We consider the unity and solidarity of freedom-loving, progressive and justice-seeking forces around the world, particularly in our region, as the solution to barbarism and the violence that poses an existentialist threat to humanity.

We are of the belief that the US and its bully war-mongering allies, whether directly or through their lackeys, take war and savagery to third-world countries one after the other in order to save themselves from the economic crises they face and to beat and defeat their Asian rivals. We must therefore realize the looming danger, and instead of fomenting conflict and antagonism amongst the peoples of countries, actively work for all-out unity.

Just as the SPA roundly condemns the recent suicide bombings in Kabul, Helmand, Paktika, Kunduz and other Afghan provinces, we unreservedly denounce the shedding of the blood of Pakistani children. We regard the recent attack on the school in Peshawar as an act of abject savagery committed by forces inimical to humanity and progress. We call on all honourable and upstanding individuals and entities, as well as anti-war and anti-terrorism organizations, to play their due role in saving humanity from the current crises through relentless and extended struggle against reactionary and treacherous regimes, and for the establishment of democratic and popular governments.

Gathering Left Parties of Pakistan condemning attacks on APS in Peshawar

Sand sculpture by Indian artist in mourning of killed students in Peshawar

Party Objectives: A united, independent, free and democratic Afghanistan; National unity on the basis of an established, consolidated, secular-based democracy; Equality among women and men, and all ethnic groups in the country; Struggle against all brands of fundamentalism, reactionary forces and foreign interference; Immediate withdrawal of US-NATO occupation forces from Afghanistan; Defending the emancipatory and progressive struggles of captive nations of the world.